This summer taught me a lot. It taught me about how short life can be. About how you have to cherish every moment you have with the people you love. I use the word love in a different context than you might think. I loved having Her around, I loved all Her little comments and remarks She would make. I loved our friendship. I also learned that you never know when your time could be up.

Everything from that day will be forever imprinted in my mind.
The day started out great, I woke up and hung out with my friends all day. I got home at about 5:30, I started playing video games, Alex was coming over that night but he was at work, I was relaxing on the couch. Mitch texted me and asked if I wanted to go to dinner, I wasn’t doing anything important and Alex was still at work, so I said yea. We went down to travelers, it was really busy. We sat in the corner booth away from everybody because we wanted to talk about our stuff and we usually get after each other. We ordered our food and got our usual Mtn. dews. We talked about the usual; girls, football, our possible playoff appearance and then we talked about an accident the night before. A drunk driver wrapped his car around a tree and lived to tell the tale. We both were curious as to why drunk drivers were saved over little children each day. It had been 30 minutes now and Mitchell was getting mad at how long we were waiting. We continued our talk about the driver, we both questioned why things happen like they do. How grateful we were to have our lives the way they were. Alex walked up and sat with us, he was on break, and Mitchell was getting really mad.

Then we got the phone call.
Mitchell’s phone rang and he picked it up. His expression changed. I stopped talking and watched him. He looked confused, he put it on speakerphone so I could hear it. We both sat and listened to the voice on the phone. My heart stopped, my chest tightened, it felt like I was being sat on by an elephant. I’ll never forget that voice, the knot in my throat, how my hands wouldn’t stop shaking, that feeling in my stomach. I’ll never forget what I heard. At that point we didn't know if it was real or not. Mitchell left to go to his house and figure it all out. I couldn't eat, I paid our bill and left. I went out to my car with Alex, I remembered that my Uncle was working in the ER that night. I called him and before I had a chance to ask anything those words came to my ears. He told me she was there, and that’s all I should know at that point. I didn’t believe him, I called him a liar. I yelled at him. I dropped my phone, I beat the top of my car with my hands. I went home crying and screaming. Alex was with me, we went home and sat for a second. Then we left, we were halfway to town when we blew a tire. I got my car jacked up then my iron broke. I threw it and screamed. Why was He doing this? What was His plan at this point? We had to wait for my friend to come help us. By that point Stephanie had called me and so did Mitchell. I didn’t know what had happened at that point, I thought that she had only been in an accident. I didn’t know she was gone.

I got there and I broke. I had never experienced anything like this before. It wasn’t real, it couldn’t be, it still isn’t. To see my friends and my family crying, to feel the pain that I felt and others were feeling was unimaginable. This stuff only happened in movies up until that point, I wish it was still that way. I wish She was still here. I couldn’t comfort my friends the way I always had been able to and that hurt. Pain just isn’t my thing, and to see people dealing with that pain hurt. To hear the voices with the pain inside of them was close to intolerable.

After we left the funeral home most of our group of friends went to Mitchell’s house. I went home, I cried, I sat there trying to figure it all out. I got to the point where I could control myself enough to drive. I went to Valerie's house. I got there and there was total silence. In all reality there couldn’t have been much else. I held Stephanie closer than I ever had before. I was scared, if this could happen like it did that night, I couldn’t lose her. I held her tight as she cried, I held myself together for her sake. She needed a shoulder to cry on. I’m glad it was me. I left the house and took Devyn with me. We drove over to Mitchell’s house; we talked about Valerie: How we still couldn’t believe it. We got to Mitchell’s house, still total silence. Tears, hugs, “I love you”s and just silence. I still couldn’t believe it. I stayed at Mitchell’s until 12:00, I went home, I took Alex with me. We got home and just sat there. We went up to bed, Alex went right to sleep, I stayed awake for a while. Crying and thinking, thats how the night of my August 10th went. I went to sleep hoping, thinking, praying, pleading that She would be back tomorrow.

Mitch and I had thought it was a joke. I wish it would have been. The day before Mitch, Stephanie, Valerie and I had all gone golfing. We had a great time! We felt like we were in top of the world. We were, up until the next day. We had all grown so close together and we didn't realize that it would end so soon. That might be why it hurt so much. It wasn’t supposed to happen. It shouldn't have. She was an angel, an angel among us. Sadly, now She really is.

MISS YOU VAL.